FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 1, 2022) – Now down to their final two regular season games of the season, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks welcome the Eastern Washington Eagles and the Idaho Vandals to Flagstaff before heading to Boise, Idaho next week.
It will be the final two home games for five Lumberjacks who have spent nearly 20 years with the Lumberjack combined.
Sentia Bryant,
Miki'ala Maio,
Lauren Orndoff,
Nina Radford and
Khiarica Rasheed's Senior Night will be celebrated before tipoff Friday against the Vandals.
Wednesday night's game will be Northern Arizona's Native American Heritage Game with T-shirts available to the first 100 fans in attendance at the Walkup Skydome. In addition to serving as Senior Night, Friday's game includes a raffle for a Flagstaff Gift Basket containing two $50 gift cards to Grimaldi's, an annual National Parks Pass, a hydro flask and a Yeti cooler. Students will also be able to enter a raffle for a Buck Hunter Arcade game.
For those who can't make it to the Walkup Skydome, both games will be available on ESPN+, as well as Hulu with the Disney Bundle.
The final two games on the schedule will also have a tremendous impact on Northern Arizona's final seeding for the Big Sky Conference Tournament next week in Boise. Currently 13-13 overall and 10-8 in the Big Sky, the Lumberjacks can finish as high as fourth place or slip to seventh from their current three-way tie for fifth. The top five teams in the Big Sky will receive a bye into Tuesday's quarterfinals while the No. 6 to No. 11 seeds will open the tournament on Monday.
Northern Arizona will look to complete a season sweep of both Eastern Washington (8-19, 6-12 Big Sky) and Idaho (10-16, 9-8) this week, having defeated the Eagles 69-54 on Jan. 24 in Cheney and Idaho 76-63 on Dec. 30, 2021 in Moscow.
EASTERN WASHINGTON
It was just a little more than a month ago when Northern Arizona visited Cheney at the end of a trip to Montana. Originally scheduled to play on Jan. 1, the game was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Eagles' program. Winning their fifth straight over the Eagles, 69-54, the Lumberjacks held Eastern Washington under 62 points for the fifth consecutive game as well.
The Lumberjacks shot 48.3 percent from the field against the Eagles, with
Regan Schenck hitting 7-of-8 from the field for a team-high 14 points and
Olivia Moran adding 11 points while hitting 5-of-7 from the field.
While Northern Arizona committed 20 turnovers, fourth-most this season, its 42 rebounds helped balance out the shot attempts from the field. Eastern Washington hit just 32.8 percent from the field as leading scorer Jaydia Martin hit just 3-of-20 from the field, including 1-of-11 from three-point range.
Martin, fourth in the Big Sky at 14.9 points per game, has led the Eagles in scoring as a true freshman this season. Jacinta Buckley, a sophomore transfer from UNLV, is 10th in the Big Sky at 12.8 points per game and third in rebounds at 8.7.
The duo combined to score 45.5 percent of Eastern Washington's 61.1 points per game average. Eastern Washington's 35.4 percent shooting as a team is 11th in the Big Sky, relying on its 8.9 steals and +1.41 turnover margin.
IDAHO
While Eastern Washington currently sits in ninth in the Big Sky, and unable to move any higher than eighth, Idaho enters Friday night winners of its past five games.
Already with a win in hand this week, beating 11th-place Portland State 64-39 Monday night, Idaho heads to Flagstaff following a trip to the Vikings on Wednesday night.
The Preseason Big Sky Conference MVP, Beyonce Bea is averaging 14.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 43.1 percent from the field this season. Bea has hit 20 points in eight conference games this season, shaking off a slow start to the year by averaging 18.5 points in Big Sky games.
Bea finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in the first meeting with the Lumberjacks back on Dec. 30 in Moscow.
Playing with just seven players due to COVID-19 protocols, Northern Arizona was led by 22 points from Orndoff and 21 from Radford while
Olivia Moran chipped in 16 points. Rasheed,
Emily Rodabaugh and
Miki'ala Maio were among the six Lumberjacks out for the game. Scoring 27 of its 76 points off the 19 Idaho turnovers, Northern Arizona led nearly from start to finish.
It was Northern Arizona's fourth victory in six games against Idaho after winning just two of the first 10 meetings once Idaho rejoined the Big Sky in 2014.
Tiana Johnson added 15 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to Northern Arizona earlier this season, with Sydney Gandy scoring 15 points as well. Louise Forsyth scored nine points, four below her season average of 13.1 this season, while Allison Kirby finished with just two points in 32 minutes.
Idaho ranks 10th in scoring margin with -3.7 points, as well as 10th in rebounding margin at -5.7. While they committed 19 turnovers against the Lumberjacks, the Vandals average just 12.7 turnovers per game to rank second-best in the conference.
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